This is the first picture of the tragic mum-of-two killed in a motorway smash while bound for a dream holiday with her new partner.

The photograph, released by the heartbroken family last night, shows Doreen Sommerville enjoying a day at Newcastle races just two weeks before her death.

The 43-year-old was killed on Thursday as she started her journey to Mexico with boyfriend Ian Jobson to celebrate setting up home together.

Doreen died when the minibus she was travelling in to Manchester Airport collided with the central reservation on the M56.

Her partner of two-and-a-half years Ian, 39, escaped with minor injuries.

The pair had planned to return home to Sunderland and move in together after their holiday in Mexica.

Last night Doreen's family said she would be greatly missed by all who knew her.

They also asked to be left alone to grieve in peace and made a request to the media to make no further efforts to contact them.

The mother-of-two was among seven people who died in the crash.

Elizabeth Burnside, a neighbour of Ms Sommerville, said: "Everyone is devastated. It is tragic she had to die in such a way when she was so happy about the future.

"She had sold her house and her new partner was going to sell his when they got back. They were going to get a place together."

From her home in Howley Avenue, Wear View Estate, Sunderland, Mrs Burnside said: "She was a lovely blonde, attractive woman and very pleasant and friendly.

"She had been divorced for about eight years and after meeting her new boyfriend a couple of years ago was really happy."

The neighbour said Ms Sommerville had two children, Leah and Scott, both in their mid-20s, who had left home.

Mrs Burnside said Doreen's mother, who lives in nearby Hylton Castle, had been unaware of the tragedy for 12 hours.

"She was telling us about how her daughter was in Mexico enjoying herself and obviously didn't know anything of this tragedy," she said.

Among the eight holidaymakers who survived the crash was Richard McCoig-Lees, 15, from Ledbury in Herefordshire.

His parents, Martin and Denise, both 47, and nine-year-old brother Ryan were killed. Duncan Boniface, 47, of Dunfermline, Scotland, died and his wife Gillian, 41, and daughter Ami, 14, are in hospital.

Alice Barr, 50, of Belfast, and driver Robert Taylor, 42, of Stretford, Greater Manchester, also died.